Compassion Focused Therapists in Nova Scotia
Emma Laughlan
Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)
I work with children (10+), teens, and adults who feel anxious, overwhelmed, or exhausted by the pressure to get everything “right.” You may be stuck in overthinking, people‑pleasing, panic symptoms, health anxiety, or relationship patterns that leave you doubting yourself. On the outside, you might appear high‑achieving and capable. Inside, you feel tense, self‑critical, or never quite enough.
Vrushalee N
Registered Psychotherapist
I’m a Registered Psychotherapist specializing in relational trauma, narcissistic abuse, attachment wounds, identity, self-worth, and emotional regulation. My approach is trauma-informed, integrative, culturally responsive, and deeply collaborative, helping clients move beyond survival patterns toward self-trust, healthier boundaries, and meaningful change.
Kali O'Dell
RSW, MSW
I am passionate about supporting people in navigating challenges and building their strengths to facilitate sustainable change.
Paige Abbott
Registered Psychologist
Paige is an experienced therapist focusing on those changing their relationship with alcohol, in sobriety/long-term recovery, as well as high performers navigating perfectionism, control, people pleasing, as well as those looking to improve relationships in individual counselling by exploring boundaries, communication and emotional regulation.
Yaroslav Grechkin
Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), Registered Counselling Therapist (Candidate)
You may look like you have it all together, yet quietly struggle with feeling “not good enough.” I help thoughtful, sensitive adults and couples navigate shame, self-doubt, anxiety, perfectionism, people-pleasing, and emotional overwhelm. Together, we’ll uncover the patterns keeping you stuck and build a kinder, more authentic relationship with yourself.
Yasmin Ahmad
Registered Psychotherapist
Sisu Therapy offers virtual psychotherapy to adults across Ontario. A calm, collaborative space for anxiety, overwhelm, life transitions, and navigating cultural or family expectations, with care taken to move forward at a manageable pace.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Compassion Focused
What is Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT)?
Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) is a form of psychotherapy developed by Paul Gilbert that integrates evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, cognitive therapy, and Buddhist psychology. CFT targets what Gilbert identified as a core feature of many people's psychological suffering: intense, chronic shame and self-criticism. It aims to cultivate compassion — for oneself and others — as a means of reducing shame-based suffering, regulating threat-based emotional systems, and activating the soothing-affiliation system associated with warmth, care, and psychological security.
What does CFT treat?
CFT is particularly suited to people with high levels of self-criticism and shame — which are common across depression, anxiety, eating disorders, personality disorders, trauma, and addictions. It was originally developed for people with severe, complex presentations who had not responded adequately to CBT. Research supports its effectiveness for depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and borderline personality disorder. CFT is also used in oncology settings, chronic pain, and with people experiencing psychosis, where self-compassion is an important resource.
What does a CFT session look like?
CFT sessions involve psychoeducation about the evolved nature of our emotional systems (threat, drive, and soothing/affiliation), exploration of how early experiences shaped the person's particular patterns of self-criticism and shame, and practices specifically designed to cultivate the compassionate self — including compassionate imagery (imagining a deeply wise and compassionate figure), compassionate letter writing, and mindfulness practice focused on warmth and care. The emphasis is on experiential rather than purely cognitive work.
Why is self-compassion so important in CFT?
Gilbert's research showed that changing the content of self-critical thoughts (as in CBT) was often insufficient for people with deep shame — because the problem was not just the thoughts but the hostile, contemptuous tone in which they were delivered to oneself. Cultivating a warm, compassionate inner voice — one that responds to one's own pain the way a deeply caring person would — produces psychological change that thought-challenging alone does not. Many people initially find self-compassion very difficult, which is itself part of the therapeutic work.
How long does CFT take?
CFT is typically delivered over 12–20 sessions for focused presentations, but longer-term work is common for complex trauma or personality difficulties. The time needed to establish a compassionate self-relationship and overcome resistance to self-compassion (which is often strong) varies significantly between individuals. CFT can also be integrated into longer-term psychodynamic or CBT work as a specific intervention for shame and self-criticism rather than used as a complete standalone therapy.